Bear Digest

Sharper Caleb Williams Wants to Play in Hall of Fame Game

Tracking the Bears at Camp: Caleb Williams' passing found the mark at a better rate Monday than in Saturday's mistake-filled practice and he's hoping to get to play against Houston Thursday.

Gene Chamberlain

Caleb Williams and QBs got through Monday's stretching at the Walter Payton Center after rain forced practice indoors.
Caleb Williams and QBs got through Monday's stretching at the Walter Payton Center after rain forced practice indoors. / Gene Chamberlain photo | Chicago Bears On SI
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Caleb Williams is like any NFL rookie when it comes to actually getting on the field for his first game, preseason or otherwise.

"I would love to get out there and play," Williams said. "It's pretty awesome to be at Canton but it's the coach's decision.

The Hall of Fame Game on Thursday means nothing and is an extra exhibition tacked on to three meaningless preseason games. Still, Williams can see the value.

"The reps are always paramount for anybody like myself—a young rookie, second-year guy, third-year guy—it's paramount," Williams said. "It's really important and we'll see about these preseason games coming up, how they play out."

Development comes with its ups and downs, and the experience couldn't hurt Williams. Whether risking him in so meaningless an endeavor is the issue.

On Monday, he looked more like a quarterback on the rise than the stumbling, mistake-prone passer he was on Saturday when he threw back-to-back interceptions to backup players.

He hit Rome Odunze in the back corner of the end zone and Keenan Allen in a crowd for touchdowns in red zone, full-squad work. In general, his passes came out faster and with more purpose.

The pass to Allen had him winning a tip of the hat even from his opposition on the play.
"I mean he made a throw in the back that I even gave him a little high-5 for cause it's impressive," Sanborn said.

The daily rise and fall, if not from play to play, is something coach Matt Eberflus had talked about earlier when he said progress is not a straight line. On Saturday, it was definitely a downer. Not so on Monday after they rested a day.

"Yeah, I think that's one thing we just mentioned to those guys coming off the practice field before the players' day off," offensive coordinator Shane Waldron said. "We had some struggles operationally and then being able to bounce back today and have a clean practice right there and be able to operate at a high level, when we are operating at a high level from an operation standpoint, it's giving all 11 players the best chance to play fast and play within every concept."

More important to Williams than playing in the Hall of Fame Game is being ready to play when the regular season starts. The sharper practice worked toward this.

"Every day I wake up, I'm learning something new," Williams said. "Getting ready for the season, preseason and these next practices. Very excited, still progressing.

"But we're towards the end of (offensive) install right now for this portion, which is very exciting. To think that not too long ago, I didn't really know anything about this offense, and now I know a lot more than I did. So, progressing, excited and ready to go."

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The cadence issues didn't return to hurt the Bears much Monday and they were even trying to reverse this with an attempt to draw the defense offsides in a situational portion of their full-squad work without pads, one held indoors because of the rain.

Williams said he's doing his best to eliminate the cadence problems and other brain cramps.

"I'm always tough about the mistakes," Williams said. "That's the part about me that drives everything, being tough on myself, being tough on the mistakes that happen, whether it's (missed assignments), a turnover or anything like that, being tough on myself and understanding that there are going to be mistakes."

If there's anything Williams says he needs work at it isn't necessarily the cadence issue.

"I would say working on my blitz looks, my blitz and coverage looks and feeling the umbrella of the defense and feeling that out to adjust protection," Williams said.

Figuring out what to do with blitzes is an issue for veterans and rookies alike.

Waldron says the effort from Williams is obvious regardless of what he's trying to correct or sharpen.

"The great part about it is that he cares, he works hard, he's so competitive that each day we have seen that improvement from him," Waldron said. "So we're confident that's headed in the right direction.

"Just like everything else it's not just Caleb. To me, that's the young guys on the roster, the guys who are new to the roster here, getting a sense of comfort level with how we do things. What our 2024 Bears language is when we are communicating with each other. I think we have a bunch of guys that work hard and care to make those daily improvements each time we go out there."

Now the question is whether Williams will be trying to avoid making these Thursday in a live game situation.

Tuesday is the day Matt Eberflus designated for revealing who will do what in Thursday's 7 p.m. game.


Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain

GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.